MT Arifin, a Javanese cultural observer, has researched the life of Raden Mas Said, founder of Pura Mangkunegaran palace in Surakarta, Central Java, and said Soeharto owned some 233 charms.

Also the former head of research at the Muhammadiyah University in Surakarta, Arifin said Soeharto acquired the charms "by performing meditations and the kungkum ritual of immersing himself in tributaries."

He said Soeharto's habit of meditating and immersing himself in rivers had contributed to his resilience in life and the former leader's ability to withstand the critical medical conditions he endured many times.

Despite his penchant for rituals related to magic, however, Arifin said Soeharto's faith in Islam never deviated.

"He had a strong basis in Islam," Arifin said.

"His faith was based on the tasawuf (inner, mystical and psycho-spiritual) tradition in Islam," he said, referring to Romo Daryatmo in Wonogiri as Soeharto's spiritual teacher during his younger days.

Romo Daryatmo, said Arifin, was a spiritualist who combined makrifat (highest knowledge) Islamic teachings with Javanese mystical traditions.

These traditions are oriented to Mangkunegaran, one of the centers of Javanese culture.

Soeharto's wife, Mrs. Tien Soeharto, was a distant relative of king Mangkunegara III.

"Soeharto was not a kejawen believer, as most people thought. His source of spirituality was still Islam," Arifin said.

According to a spiritualist from Miri in Sragen regency, Wardi, 46, Soeharto possessed certain supernatural powers and was invulnerable to wounds.

"The suffering he endured before dying was the result of kejawen practices, even though it is beyond our common sense," Wardi said.

The Astana Giribangun family mausoleum Soeharto built was designed to resemble the Astana Girilayu burial complex where Mangkunegaran rulers were entombed.

Wardi said the mausoleum was "just normal for him".

Soeharto had been heavily influenced by the "royalty mindset" of his wife and wanted to please her, he said.

"Especially Bu Tien wished to raise the status of her mother (Gray Hatmanti Soemoharyomo) as a Mangkunegaran aristocrat."

Arifin said Soeharto did not have any issue with his wife's beliefs.

He said Soeharto was raised according to Yogyakarta tradition, but buried in the Surakarta area, and that both areas were prone to traditional frictions.

"Soeharto was not influenced by the Yogyakarta Sultanate tradition, which is different from that of the Mangkunegaran," Arifin said.

Sebelas Maret University historian Sudharmono said regardless of where he was accepted, as a Yogyakartan or Surakartan, Soeharto "had been co-opted into his wife's noble desire".

"In various aspects of his life, Bu Tien was very influential, such as realizing the construction of the family mausoleum near the burial site where Mangkunegaran rulers are buried," Sudharmono said.

"It is none other than to satisfy his wife's obsession -- acknowledgment as a kin of the Mangkunegaran dynasty," he said.

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